'Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President' Chronicles Music's Role in His Life

Carter makes no effort to varnish music culture's rough edges. He gleefully points out an error in Nelson's autobiography. The outlaw country star wrote about smoking pot with a servant while staying overnight in the White House. “It actually was one of my sons,” Carter corrects, noting that Nelson didn't want to impugn the Carter family reputation.

He also relates a tale about gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, a Carter admirer and friend who blew up when he wasn't granted an early campaign trail interview. Thompson got drunk, stuffed newspapers into trash cans and set them on fire in front of the hotel room door of Carter's press aide Jody Powell.

Jimmy Carter and Willie Nelson sitting together at Nelson's fundraiser concert for Carter’s reelection campaign on Sept. 13, 1980.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

"There were some people who didn't like my being deeply involved with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and disreputable rock ‘n’ rollers,” Carter says in the film. “But I didn't care about that because I was doing what I really believe. And the response from the followers of those musicians was much more influential than a few people who thought that being associated with rock ‘n’ roll and radical people was inappropriate for a president."

Rock & Roll President, on demand, in virtual theaters and headed to CNN in January, “was a story hiding in plain sight,” says director Wharton, a longtime producer of TV music documentaries. “The draw for me was the challenge of using the music documentary form to explore the life of a former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It was counterintuitive and intriguing. I saw an opportunity to look at the power of music and at a man who has been unfairly maligned."

Producer Chris Farrell says the project drew “an embarrassment of riches” as Carter allies across the music spectrum volunteered to participate. Only two subjects were tough to nail down: Dylan and Carter himself. Dylan was game but difficult to schedule because he was on tour. Crews stalked him around the country before cornering him in a secret location. Carter relented but was leery.

"He showed up early, and the first few minutes were tense,” Farrell says. “As soon as he realized that we weren't going to ask about the current political environment or his mistakes in office but just about his love for music, he lit up."

Carter beams throughout the film, whether he's singing “Salt Peanuts” with Dizzy Gillespie at a White House performance or reminiscing about inviting Aretha Franklin to his inaugural.

Bono, Jimmy Carter and Nile Rodgers attend the We Are Family Foundation 2016 Celebration Gala in New York.

Shahar Azran/Getty Images/Courtesy of We Are Family Foundation

At a time when youth and their musical idols rejected politicians as phonies, “along comes Carter with this generosity of spirit, and he's an astute listener of music,” Wharton says. “It's rather rare in politics to find someone as honest and authentic as Carter was."

She and Farrell hope viewers will enjoy the film's bounty of musical and historical treasures, as well as its lessons about music's power to unite and revelations about Carter's personality.

"Music is one of the most powerful forces humankind has created,” Wharton says. “It reminds us that we have more in common than our differences. Carter appreciates that in a deep and philosophical way. He was a master in using music to cross the political divide. By looking at Carter's life through this lens of his relationship to music, a portrait starts to emerge of his honesty. He was honest even when people didn't want to hear it."

Farrell suggests that Carter is an example for our time.

"We weren't trying to do the definitive documentary on Carter,” he says. “We're trying to get people to see something they didn't see before. Music has a powerful way of bringing people together. He saw that. He was someone with strong moral courage and strong moral leadership. At the end, he talks about how you should try to be the best possible person you can be. If we could all do that, half — if not all — of the divisiveness in this country would be gone."